Part of Kodak's efforts in product development was related to ergonomics, as evidenced by the design discussion in the Ektra prospectus. Kodak clearly understood that to claim the lead in the professional and advanced amateur market, their optics must be well designed and consistently produced. They also invested in aesthetic design that created a style that was novel then and has weathered extremely well. Faithful to their long established entry level market, improvements in optics, stylistic and functional design and the innovative use of new materials found their way to the least expensive Kodaks--the Baby Brownie, the first plastic-bodied Kodak, sold in 1934 for $1. Three men made major contributions to these trend-setting Kodak cameras in the 1930s and early 1940s--Rudolf Kingslake, Joseph Mihalyi, and Walter Dorwin Teague. The success of their collaboration is reflected in the appearance, performance and functionality of products that have continued to satisfy buyers and users for many decades.

Rudolf Kingslake (1903-2003 ) moved from his native England, in 1929, with his new wife Hilda Conrady Kingslake, also an optical engineer, to a new academic post at the University of Rochester. In 1937, he was hired as a lens designer by Eastman Kodak and by 1939 headed their lens design department. In the 1950s, he became Director of Optical Design. He was part of the design team that produced the Golden Age Kodaks, contributing lenses that had dramatically reduced aberration. He and Hilda have published many books jointly and separately. He continued teaching at the University of Rochester and has been honored by the Optical Society of America with its highest award, the Frederic Ives Medal, and the Society of Photo-Optical Engineers with an annually awarded medal bearing his name. Hilda and Rudolf are nearing 100 as of this writing (2002).